Well, I have one with 8000 km on it and one with 1000 km on it. The rear drive on the higher km bike is what I'd have to call "very noisy" in a high-pitched buzz or whiney sort of way. I even suspect that the noise, which is a little like a bee or wasp sound, caused a horse in a horse-float parked on the side of the road to attempt to leave the horse float without help. After the event, I decided that the horse "may" have decided that it was an approaching wasp.

The newer bike which has just less than 1000km on it is just starting to develop a similar noise, but it has a way to go before it reaches that stage.

I've not seen any reference to rear-drive failure. Does anyone know more in this regard?

The nimh batteries are plain and simple crap, in my opinion. The outcome is that the battery gauge is useless for informing you just how much further you may ride before it goes into crawl mode, and crawl mode is VERY limited. What this means for a rider is that, from anywhere between 1/3 battery level and just over 1/2 battery level on the gauge bars, suddenly it will show "nothing" on the gauge and you will slow to 10 - 15 kph. This will last for up to 2 city blocks of travel and it will stop.

Which is why I am about to fit li-ion batteries to both. I believe that battery problems will be largely a thing of the past when this is done. (hoping so, anyway )

You'll note that I haven't decided to get rid of my bikes.

In a world over-loaded with polluting large vehicles, now is the time to get around amongst them with ELECTRIC showing on the panels. I've had a few people come up to me, amazed that such vehicles exist (which is how they mostly put it). Those who obviously notice (and don't just quietly observe) are very enthusiastic about them. And, to add one more time in a message, sitting at the lights, or anywhere else, and have the bike doing absolutely nothing (no engine noise) except that bloody headlight on at all times is a great experience.

So, I'd say, get a Vectrix. Get a LOW PRICE Vectrix, as long as everything works. Then, increase the cost to you by getting a new battery pack. This results in medium-cost scooter with reliable performance and range. The new battery pack is said to make the battery gauge reliable as far as what it says is what it is. If it doesn't, I'll re-appear in a month or two and say so

The whine in the rear drive? Believe it or not, from observation, the great majority of pedestrians do not appear to notice anything different in that they don't look over. A few do.

I do believe that the noisy bike can be heard, which is good for bike safety. Other drivers know you are there. Hope this helps.

I have done more research and understand that all the Vectrix units in Australia sat in containers on the docks for something like 18 months due an internal dispute with the company importing them at the time. This apparently damaged the NiMh battery packs and severely affected their range and performance.

I had the opportunity to take a new VX-1 and VX-2 for a ride in the US and was very impressed with their performance.....particularly the Lithium based VX-1. They were also quite refined and seemed well engineered. The throttle operated regen was a brilliant inclusion.

Sutho wrote:
I have done more research and understand that all the Vectrix units in Australia sat in containers on the docks for something like 18 months due an internal dispute with the company importing them at the time. This apparently damaged the NiMh battery packs and severely affected their range and performance.

The sitting around on the docks isn't what damages the nimh batteries, its being un-balanced and then over charged by the original charger.

I bought my Vectrix in 2009 for $5000 with 12km on the clock.
before putting it into service I did a balancing charge at 1.5A for 20 hours.

at 13'450km, I upgraded to lithium (44 x 60Ah).
I tested the original battery, all cells had 30Ah or more capacity, and a couple had above average self discharge rate.
Despite this, due to the limitations of the nimh battery, only 20Ah was actually usable in every day riding.

Hi, I have owned a Vectrix for 3 years. It was one of the impoters ones and paid $4000. The NiMh pack lasted 3500Km with a final range of 25Km. I upgraded to Li-Ion at 90 Ahr of my own design. The bike has a range of 210Km at highway speeds and 300Km at 60Km/Hr. I think the Vectrix scooters are well made with quality parts and construction. The NiMh battery pack suffered from imbalance problems and insufficient capacity. I have done 26,000Km and batteries have same range as when installed. The scooter is ideal for suburban commuting.